Freedom

Thanksgiving has a special place in the hearts of all Americans when we recognize the many blessings that we have in this nation. But this Thanksgiving is different and more meaningful as we watch so many people in Eastern Europe and parts of the Soviet Union who, for the first time in their lives, are seeing the light of freedom. To observe the joy on their faces is truly a great moment in world history and reminds us of the struggle that we had as a young nation to obtain liberty.

Re " 'I don't' isn't the answer," editorial, May 28 Sadly, it took The Times less than two weeks to turn a decision that was ostensibly about recognizing the inherent freedom we all (should) have to live our lives as we see fit into the latest occasion for calling on the power of the state to enforce a new orthodoxy. According to your editorial, public employees should be forced to perform marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples even if they object to doing so on religious grounds.

In her review of Brian Friel's powerful play, "The Freedom of the City," directed by Fionnula Flanagan and currently running at Theatre West, Sylvie Drake strayed beyond her function as a drama critic and committed a few gaffes in the process ("Ambitious 'City' Tends to Stagger Under Burden of Its Own Weight," Jan. 28). She suggests that the core event that inspired Friel's play, the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry, "won't necessarily stand out in the American consciousness," a suggestion which she confirms by dating the event in 1970 rather than 1972.

Megan Mullally comes through the door of a small office at the Odyssey Theatre, dressed in a long, flowy strapless dress, a black cardigan and Chinese slippers. Her fashionably straight auburn hair brushes her shoulders, and she looks radiant. Or is that a bit flushed? "I think I'm having a hot flash," she says, wiping beads of sweat off her brow. The Emmy- and Screen Actors Guild award-winning "Will & Grace" star has passed the threshold of 50, a milestone most actresses dread in youth-obsessed Hollywood.

After four decades in prison for an Arizona mass murder he has always vehemently insisted he did not commit, Louis Taylor will sometime Tuesday walk out of the shadow of confinement -- a free man. Now 59, he was convicted in 1970 in connection with a Tucson hotel fire that killed 29 people. Taylor was 16 when he went to jail, sentenced to 28 consecutive life sentences. Now that crime and all that time will soon be in his past. He pleaded no-contest to the charges in a Tucson court, allowing the wheels of justice to move toward his freedom.

Two years ago, the Beijing Olympics sparked the biggest uprising of the Tibetan people inside and outside their country since China invaded it in the '50s and imposed a harsh, repressive rule against the native population. This protest prompted documentarians Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam to make a fresh examination of the plight of the Tibetans still craving independence after a half century of either homeland misery or increasingly long exile. Their beautiful, stirring and inescapably elegiac "The Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom" illuminates the increasing complexity and contradictions in regard to the role of the Dalai Lama, exiled in India since 1959.

"Two Lanes of Freedom" is Tim McGraw's first album since he announced that he gave up alcohol five years ago. It's also his first record for Big Machine - appropriately, also Taylor Swift's home label, given her single "Tim McGraw" - and he looks hale and hearty in the album's accompanying videos. It all signals a major new start for McGraw, one of pop-country's bestselling but critically assailed figures. If only the songs on "Two Lanes" were as honed and wiry as their singer. The album should keep him atop the country commercial firmament, but doesn't really advance him as an artist.

Last week I attended a performance by my daughter's fourth-grade class. Christmas and Hanukkah songs were sung by a very diverse group of students. Suddenly I understood why we must fight the terrorists to the end. We must preserve our freedom! Aron Tintfass Beverly Hills

It has recently been discussed that Thousand Oaks City Council meetings are too long. In viewing the council meetings, I have long noted that our wonderful constitutional guarantee of "freedom of speech" is being abused, or possibly being used by one individual to promote some hidden agenda. In fairness to all, abuse of this privilege should be limited. Freedom of speech is for all citizens. Marie Dowd Westlake Village

In Steve Cohen's letter (April 11), "Single Thing," he questioned Soviet visitor Katya Lycheva's statement that, "so far I haven't seen a single thing that my friends don't have." Cohen was particularly concerned about "freedom." When recently I visited the Soviet Union, I spent an hour in a small park with a Soviet woman who had come there with her children. As was typical of many Soviets that I met, she spoke excellent English, which allowed us to spend a good deal of time questioning each other about our countries' ideas, attitudes, and values.